Looking back: 3 years of blogging

Today it is precisely three years since I started this blog. Since I have completely failed to notice either of my two previous bloggiversaries, only realising after the fact, I thought I’d make a bit of an effort to mark this one.

I’m proud of this blog. There, I said it. Sure, we’ve had our ups and downs. It started off pretty shockingly badly (please, don’t ever go back and try to find my first post. Believe me, it is not worth it), but since then has picked up and I’ve had some pretty good times with it. There have been times when I’ve badly neglected it (like most of this year…) and times when I’ve probably overwhelmed people’s RSS readers with new posts. Although I haven’t always kept up the momentum, and although there have been times when I’ve wondered whether I should refocus this blog, or find a new way or writing it, one thing I have never considered doing is quitting it altogether. I’m a blogger. I blog, therefore I am.

Blogging has given me back much more than I ever put into it. Without my blog, I would have missed out on so many opportunities. I’d never have had a hand in setting up the Library Routes project, or written for CILIP Update or Information Outlook or the BIALL newsletter, or spoken at several conferences and events. More importantly though, blogging has given me a space to scribble down my thoughts. I’m not very good at talking about ideas, or at coming to decisions or forming an opinion without having a chance to explore them first. I explore ideas best by writing about them, and writing them here has allowed me to share ideas with others who were thinking along the same lines.

Three years isn’t a terribly long time really, but it feels like quite a long time in the blogosphere.And when I look back at my first posts, I can see that quite a lot has changed for me in that time – not least myself! When I first started this blog I was working part-time as an academic library assistant while studying for my MSc, and mostly musing about e-resources, academic library funding, study spaces, dissertation writing, and what on earth I was going to do with myself once I’d finished my masters. I can see some common threads in my early posts that continue to be interests today: I wrote quite a bit about professional bodies, independent CPD, and networking; but where I am as a person and what my work-specific interests are have vastly changed. It’s actually quite nice to have this blog as a personal archive, to remind myself of what I was doing three years ago and what I’ve done since then.

I plan to continue this blog for as long as I have ideas to write down. I do hope this blog is still here in another three years.

I love this blog. I still actively envy your I-can’t-quite-put-my-finger-on-exactly-what-it-is ability to turn experiences into interesting narratives, or questions, or lessons, or advice. It’s something about hitting the nub of an experience or issue and bringing out the thing that makes it significant.

Also, it opened my eyes to how important a blog can be in creating a dialogue.

Is nub even a real word? I have that thing where I’m staring at a word wondering if it can really be a word.

I think Organising Chaos ranks as one of the best information and library related blogs around. I am constantly impressed by your honesty and openness. And I think the number and quality of your comments reflects how your readers feel about it too.

I look forward to your returning to the fray after taking time to recover from your personal tragedies.